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PC Doomsday Scenario

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Cessna954
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PC Doomsday Scenario

Post by Cessna954 » Tue Jan 02, 2018 9:30 pm

I've turned my home PC on this evening and opened Lightroom CC to find that c55,000 of my image files are missing, only pre 1994 weren't missing.

The recycle folder contained just the 2017 year image folder (which i've restored) but none of the other years - 1994 onwards.

My PC is set up with an operating system hard drive and a data (image storage) hard drive (which is actually 2 hard drives that mirror to each other). The image hard drive is practically empty but working fine from what i can tell - so the 55,000 images have been physically removed as opposed to accidently moved somewhere else.

I back up to a portble hard drive (which I keep at work) and also to the Cloud, so all being well i should recover all the lost files - albeit it will take a while to do.

But, before I do that I really need to understand what has caused the files to be deleted in the first instance.

I'm currently running a full AntiVirus scan with AVAST software.

Any knowledgeable PC people out there able to advise on what avenues I need to explore to identify the cause? I bit of a check list would be great. Also, is there a log or way i can identify when the files were deleted?

All help gratefully received.

Neil

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andygolfer
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Re: PC Doomsday Scenario

Post by andygolfer » Tue Jan 02, 2018 10:20 pm

really sorry to hear that Cessna, I hope you sort it out.

a similar thing happened to a friend of mine last year (or possibly 2016) and I can't remember what he did but I'm sure he recovered most of his somehow. It's a bit late now so I'll call him tomorrow and see if I can get any info to help you.

andy
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Re: PC Doomsday Scenario

Post by Sussex to Devon » Thu Jan 04, 2018 7:23 pm

Hi,

Maybe worth trying a software recovery file, there are a number on the web. Just a example link

One reason maybe if your hard drive is really full up. They can cause problems if over 90% full. Also if defragmented.

I had trouble once with ghost system ie two hard drives for backup. I was using Norton Ghost, which I personally found complex to use. Pressed wrong key, wiped everything, including the OS. I was lucky the fact I had backup on CD ROM. But if your using some programme like Norton Ghost, I am not surprised it wiped the backup drive. In theory that data should be kept safe. My system at the time was Vista and computer a Dell. The backup was set up by Dell, but really didn't worked well. A external Hard drive was so much easier. Now using Windows 10 and that is so easy to back up. Also if you go into windows system and select one of the hard drives and open it (right click) to see if any program files exists in any folder.

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Cessna954
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Re: PC Doomsday Scenario

Post by Cessna954 » Sun Jan 14, 2018 9:48 pm

Since posting this thread I've been busy restoring my lost files and am just about complete so thought that I would pass on thoughts on the matter.

Since changing from 35mm film to digital in 2005 I've read many articles about the importance of backing-up and pitfalls of not using the right solution. Originally i backed up to CDs and then DVDs - but they can
get scratched and rendered useless when you need them. Then I changed to a portable WD Passbook, which i keep in a protective case, and keep it stored in the office at work. I use the Allway Sync software to replicate my master image drive to the back-up.

In early autumn Adobe released the latest versions of Lightroom and Photoshop, both now being cloud based Apps. Having read up on it, and the proported merits of never loosing your images with cloud storage, I opted for their 2TB Photographer Plan. It took about a week of the PC running 24/7 to sync my image folder to the cloud and once that was done I ceased to back-up subsequent and new images to the WD Passbook.

Roll forward to the New Year, and for still unknown reasons, my master image drive was wiped clean. - all 66,950 image gone and Adobe trying to sync by deleting those on the Cloud. Thankfully i noticed this quickly and paused the Sync function.

So, after some Googling I still couldn't work out how to restore images in bulk from Adobe Cloud. I contacted customer services, explained clearly that I wanted to up load in bulk, so was talked through a process that culminated in only being able to do it a single image at a time - all 66,950 of them would have taken 6 weeks working 24/7. Arghhhhhhh...... It transpires that Adobe don't want photographers to be able to restore their images from the Cloud as they want us to be 100% dependent of Cloud storage.

So, I have the WD Passbook up to date up to late September so retored those from there - took no more than 1 hour using the Allway Sync software. That left about 1,750 images that were only backed up to the Cloud. So, many late nights later, image by image, I've dowloaded all remaining files.

Having learnt the lesson that the Adobe Cloud isn't actually a viable back-up solution I've reverted back to using the WD Passbook.

I have previuosly tried using the Amazon Prime Cloud storage - that does allow bulk downloading - but the software is so clunky I didnt trust that it wasn't going to do something silly and delete files.

So, if you do revert to Cloud storage and still want to maintain a master drive of your images on a PC at home - don't rely on the Adobe Cloud solution. Others, such as DropBox and Prime Photos, may be better solutions.

Now that's done i can get on with scanning and posting pictures.

Thanks to Andy for speaking with a friend about recovery solutions.

Neil

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andygolfer
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Re: PC Doomsday Scenario

Post by andygolfer » Mon Jan 15, 2018 8:29 am

pleased to hear it turned out well in the end Neil, albeit a bit of a painful and lengthy process.

a bit of a lesson in that it's worth checking the 'small print' on how these on line systems work if the worst happens so thanks for the warnings.

I personally have 3 copies of all my photos that I have actually used, I download from my camera onto an external hard drive and then do the initial editing on that at full image size. I then copy them to my PC internal hard drive bit at 1500 pixels to reduce the space (that is an ample size for what I want though and i still have the original on the external drive). The quarterly I back the PC hard drive, everything not just photos to another external hard drive which I store in a sealed bag in a metal filing cabinet in my garage so my 'cloud' is a metal box with a plastic seal. Like you I was worried about having the photos stored all in one place and if I had a fire or even the PC & external drive were stolen then I have the safety net of the drive stored elsewhere.

I also never delete the photos off the original memory card until I have finished editing them and thus have edited copies in at least 2 places, when I get home from a day out the first thing I do is download onto the external HD so I have a copy straight away.

I'm always telling the family to back up their data even if they aren't as pedantic as me, I haven't got caught yet but I always fear that something might happen to my PC which also affects the current external HD (I'm on my 3rd now and maybe I shouldn't leave that plugged in) - they tend to ignore and treat me as a grumpy old git worried about everything that never happens but I've been proved right.

hindsight is a massive lesson and I don't get caught by the same thing twice, I'm sure Neil will be the same and it's a very useful lesson to us all. At least it turned out well for him.
Andy
Andygolfer (or at least I was once), now just plane crazy

Image
please support our photo competitions by entering and/or voting!
Proud winner of 2019 Air-Britain photo competition!

co-owner of UK Light Aviation Enthusiasts google group https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/uklae
and Stansted Aviation Enthusiasts google group: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/stnae

my photos on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/125470545@N07/

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